Harvest Moon: Angel
by Juxapose4ever
Summary: Something supernatural is happening to the farm. Nobody else but Lillith notices these events, and she believes she might be losing it. However, the more she ignores it the worse it becomes. Will Lillith be able to solve the mystery of the strange events?
1. Chapter 1

**Harvest Moon: Angel**

**Part 1**

In a small remote village, there is a farm. A small farm in a beautiful valley full of green trees, and sweet smelling flowers. In this small village lives only a handful of people. Most of them used to live in the city, but they are now miles away from the busy life. Even though everyone is far from luxuries and convenience, they are all happy.

In the farm, lives a small family and some animals cared for by the owner. The farm is relatively small, with only limited space for growing crops and raising animals. Times are usually tough, and money is sometimes tight. But the family is always happy and cheerful living in there.

Early in the morning, the alarm clock bell rings waking up the young farmer. Farms are usually kept by a man, and the wife cares for the children. But in this family, the roles are reversed. The farmer in this tale is a young lady, and her name is Lillith. As she slams her hands on the alarm clock to silence it, she stands up to greet the early Summer morning. The first thing she does every morning is glance at her mirror, and takes a good look at herself.

In the mirror, she takes a look into her light violet eyes. There are bags under them which shows that she had a rough evening the night before. She knows that the work is rough, but she still does her best every single day despite how tired she is. After all, the farm is a gift left behind by her late father. Lillith and her father were very close, so she believes that doing her best in the farm will make him happy in heaven.

She picks up a brush, and starts to comb her long brunette hair. Over the years that she has worked, she can notice some damage from dirt and sweat from the work she has put in, but her appearance is still important to her. Even though she was called tomboyish ever since she was only a child, she still is a girl.

As she combs her hair, her husband wakes up, and takes a good look at his wife. He smiles as he watches her get ready for another day on the job. Countless times he offered to help, but Lillith knows how clumsy and irresponsible her husband is. Rather than work on the farm, he takes care of their only child that sleeps on it's own bed.

He gets up from the bed, and slowly walks toward Lillith trying to surprise her. It doesn't take long before she sees his medium-short blond hair from the Mirror. She giggles, but continues to brush her hair like if nothing is going to happen. She knows that he is coming to embrace her, and give her a kiss good morning. But she continues to brush her hair, and waits for it.

He quickly wraps his arms around her waist, and kisses her behind the ear. Lillith is very ticklish, so she wriggles around as her husband shows some affection to his wife. This is probably his best quality that Lillith finds attractive about him. He may be an odd man, but Lillith appreciates a man that can make her laugh early in the morning to start her day. His young looking face, blond smooth hair, and light amber eyes are also features that Lillith likes about him.

Lillith pushes him away playfully before telling him, **"Rock, come on, stop it! I have to get ready!"**

Rock smiles as he looks deep in his wife's eyes. She blushes a light pink in her cheeks. They have only been married a short time, but she still feels embarrassed when he looks at her that way. **"Come on Lillie, why do I have to stop? You know you like it when I hug you from behind."** he reminds her.

Lillith smiles, then closes her eyes to receive her morning kiss. Rock shows little hesitation to hold her warm rosy cheeks, and press his lips against hers. They spend a good moment kissing in the middle of the bedroom, they are very close, but Rock tends to get a little greedy with is affection. Using the brush in her hand, she uses it to slap her husband's bare chest. Naturally, this is a sign for him to let go already.

After releasing her, she tell him, **"Okay, that's enough buster! I need to take a nice shower now. Put on a shirt, then wake up Toby, and get him ready."** Rock smiles and walks over to their child's bed to wake him. Lillith may be a little bit bossy towards her family, but she means well. After all, she does work every day to earn the money with few days off every year. Rock happily follows any order shouted by his wife without asking questions, or complaints.

Lillith heads over to the bathroom as Rock wakes up their son from his peaceful sleep. Little Toby grunts a bit before waking up, but he smiles cheerfully after seeing his father's face. Toby inherited many of his father's traits as opposed to his mother. He has blond hair and amber eyes just like Rock does. Toby also has a similar personality to his father, but that only means that Lillith laughs twice as many times while she is home.

Lillith walks into the bathroom, and takes off her night gown to take her morning bath. The water is cold, but she needs a refreshing cool shower to wake her up. Hot water is tough to get in the valley, but she has been able to get used to the changes. Her shampoo and soap are especially imported to keep her hair and skin as smooth and healthy as possible. She then steps out of the shower, and brushes her teeth. She knows that she needs to spend more time preparing herself, but she doesn't have much time to do much. After all, the animals and crops in the farm do not wait for her to get fully prepared in the morning.

As soon as her teeth are brushed, she wraps her body with a towel, and walks out. Rock and their son waits outside the bathroom every morning for Lillith to get done her morning cleaning. As Lillith bursts out of the bathroom, she stops to say to Rock, **"Be sure that Toby brushes his teeth, and clean behind his ears! Make sure that soap doesn't get in his eyes, and try not to play in there! Took me an hour to clean up yesterday morning!"**

Rock nods, and carries their son into the bathroom for their morning bath. Lillith then runs over to the bedroom, and starts looking through the drawers for some clothing. Since it's Summer, she wears her marble colored shirt, white pants, and white sneakers. She then ties an apron around her waist for carrying seeds and small tools. On the dresser, she grabs her favorite gloves that she uses so that her delicate hands don't get too dirty. Then she grabs a scrunchie, and ties her hair back into a ponytail. She looks into the mirror again, and cheers lightly at herself, she is now ready to tackle the day head on!

In the kitchen, She starts to prepare breakfast for her family. She is not a very good cook, but she can handle simple items such as eggs and toast. Since Rock is from a family who runs an Inn, they eat out a lot. But Lillith doesn't want to trouble Rock's parents too much, so she tries her best in the kitchen. As she is placing the food on the table, Rock and Toby leave the bathroom shivering from the cold water. They quickly jet over to the bedroom where they can change into some comfortable clothing.

Lillith sits in the table, and waits for the family to finish changing. After a few minutes, Rock comes back into the kitchen carrying Toby in his arms. Unlike Lillith, Rock feels more comfortable wearing old fashioned clothing, roughly from the 1970's era. He wears a blue shirt with golden bands on the waist and wrist. Over his shirt, he has a sleeveless jacket, which Lillith always finds odd because it's far too warm for jackets. He also wears a pair of bleach white khakis, and over-sized brown platform shoes. Around his neck is a medallion made out of fake gold. Lillith laugh as his taste in clothing never changes.

Luckily, their son is dressed a bit more modern than his father. Even though the white hat with blue and green criss-cross stripes is a bit unusual, but customary for the village. He is also wearing a white shirt with cute paw prints, and overalls with star shaped cut-outs in the knee area. Matching light blue booties complete the set.

Everyone is seated on the table, and Lillith says grace before eating their breakfast. This is usually the time where Lillith and Rock spend time talking about the daily activities of the day before. What they did, what has their son been doing, what can they do to better the farm, and how can they better raise their son. Toby just sits and eats his breakfast.

After their meal, Lillith runs out of the house to start her daily work in the farm. But she stops to say, **"Bye bye Rock. Bye bye Toby. Love you! See you later this afternoon!"**

**"Bye mommy!"** said Toby in his high pitched voice. Toby is four years old already, so he has already learned to speak some words. Rock does his best to teach his son, but he is not the greatest teacher either. Sometimes he needs help from his mother at the inn to properly teach and raise Toby. But as long as their son is happy, they both are happy as well.

The first place Lillith hits is the barn full of animals. Of all the places in the farm, this is the most difficult and time consuming area to work. After the years she owned the farm, Lillith already owns two cows, a bull, a horse, a sheep, and a goat. There is also a calf in the hutch outside in the pasture. Lillith wants to keep it, but sadly she has to sell it to make some extra money.

She begins by filling each bin full of fodder for the day. The cows eat more fodder than the other animals, so they need to be fed twice a day. As each animal is eating, Lillith takes the moment of tranquility to brush the coats of each animal. They all make happy sounds as they are brushed. After eating, Lillith then begins to milk the cows. One of the cows only gives mother's milk for the calf outside. This puts a strain in the profits, but she'll manage.

After the milking, she rushes over to the storage room to put the milk in the refrigerator. In the storage room, she collects her share of the profits left by her assistant Takakura. There isn't a lot of money in there, but surely enough to feed and clothe her family. She then takes some notes for Takakura to read, and jogs back to the barn to continue with her work.

Back in the barn, she opens the huge barn doors that lead into the pasture. She then pushes a red button outside the barn to ring a bell that calls all the animals outside. Even though they get fed inside, the animals need to be let outside for some fresh grass and sunlight. She takes advantage of the fact that the animals are outside to clean up the barn in the inside.

Inside the barn, Lillith uses a shovel to pick up droppings left by the animals. She is glad that she has a fertilizer maker installed into the barn to turn the useless animals waste into something useful. Afterwards, she steps out of the barn to collect the fertilizer bags made by the machine. It doesn't smell too good, but she uses it to make better harvests.

By now, the animals are done, and she can start with something easier. She heads over to the tool shed, and grabs her watering can so that she can water the crops. Since it's Summer, the crops can dry out very easily. And if Lillith isn't careful, the crops can die. But Lillith is responsible enough to make sure that doesn't happen. She first checks the trees for any fruit, nothing ripe yet. So she moves on to the crops in the next field over. With her watering can full of water, she moistens the dirt at the bases of the plants. She smiles as the crops grow healthy, and the fruit close to ripening.

Just as she is finishing watering the crops, Takakura passes by the field looking for her. He waves his arm grabbing her attention. Lillith then places her watering can on the ground, and jogs over to Takakura to see what he wants. Takakura is an older man in his late 40's. Unlike Lillith, Takakura doesn't pay much attention to his appearance. His jet black hair is not combed, and his eyebrows are exaggeratedly huge. His shirt and pants are dirt, and his black working boots are worn. He had a back injury when he was younger, so he walks in a slouch. Despite his appearance, he is a hard worker. He delivers Lillith's crops and produce to the nearest town, and builds anything that is needed in the farm.

**"Pardon me Lillith, but your chicken yard is ready."** he said in his stern deep voice.

**"Really? Wow, that was fast! Can I put my chickens out already?"** Takakura nods at Lillith. She then thanks him for the hard work, and marches over to the chicken coop to move her hens over to the chicken yard.

Before going inside the chicken coop, she takes a look at the yard Takakura built for her. She nods seeing that the fences are well built, and sturdy for years to come. She then continues inside the coop, and checks out the chickens. Inside, she finds four of her best hens pecking at the dirt looking around for scraps of food. Usually, Lillith would feed them chicken feed. But since they will be in the yard eating worms, Lillith will no longer need to feed them as long as the weather is fair.

She grabs a hen, and carries it out to the yard. As soon as she gently places it on the ground, she hears a loud crashing noise coming from nearby. Curious to know what happened, she ran to the source of the noise. Near the chicken coop, there was an old shed that was locked away, and never used. It has now fallen apart, and crashed into the ground by it's own weight.

**"Oh gosh, looks like this old building finally came down!"** she said. She then starts to inspect the wood pile looking for any traces of what might have been inside. But she finds nothing in the end. She places her hands on her hips as she says, **"Well, nobody was using this place anyway. I might as well chop up the wood, and use it for firewood. This will heat the water, and I can have a warm shower for a while!"** Happy to see a useless building go down, she runs to her tool shed where she looks for a something that she can use.

In the shed, she pulls out an ax from a metal box. Since chopping down trees in the valley is forbidden, she never had a chance to use it. Now she feels that it's a perfect excuse to use the ax. She places it on her shoulder and carries it like a lumberjack towards the wreckage. She whistles a nice tune as she imagines herself in a warm shower tomorrow morning. But she gasps, and drops her ax as soon as she notices something unusual. The building that came down only moments ago is now standing again.

She runs over to check on the locked shed. She cannot find any signs that the old building ever fell over. She tries to push the walls, but the wood is strong enough to last many more years. She scratches her head trying to make sense out of the shed. A moment ago, it fell over. After she turned her back, it reconstructed itself.

**"Is everything okay?"** asked Takakura surprising her from behind.

She quickly turns a round gasping out of shock. After taking a few deep breaths, she answers, **"Nothing. Everything is okay."** But she knows for certain that the shed came crashing down a few minutes ago. She takes another glance at the sturdy unused shed, and then she asked Takakura, **"Hey, did you hear a loud crashing sound a few minutes ago? Like when a building collapses?"**

Takakura raised his right eyebrow unsure how to answer her question. **"No, I don't think so. Did something happen?"**

Lillith paused a moment before saying, **"No, it was just my imagination I guess."**

Takakura then nods, and returns to his work seeing that everything is fine. Lillith spends a few minutes staring at the shed before leaving to feed the chickens. She wanted to move all the chickens outside, but she changed her mind. She wanted the chickens to be safe in case the shed breaks apart again.

After her work is done, she returns home to her family. After spending some quality time, she begins to cook dinner. During dinner, she asks Rock if he has heard anything unusual lately. But rock shakes his head no, and everything was quiet since she left. After dinner, she goes back to the barn to move all the animals back inside.

The next day, Lillith repeats her daily morning routine, and heads over to the barn for her work. After dealing with all the large animals, she grabs her watering can, and moves over to the plants for their daily watering. But as she walks to the crops, Takakura passes by her. He stops and tells Lillith, **"Hey, wait a second! I need to tell you that I just finished your chicken yard!"**

Lillith suddenly stops. She then turns around slowly looking at Takakura. She thought he was kidding at first, but he has a very serious face. She looks hard at him while saying, **"Takakura. . . Didn't you get finished with the chicken yard yesterday?"**

Takakura raises an eyebrow to her question. He has no clue what she's talking about. So he answered, **"Um, no. I just finished the finishing touches today."**

**"But you said that you were finished yesterday! I even asked if I could put the chickens out, and you nodded!"** she yelled with a panicked tone.

**"No, I don't remember anything like that."** Takakura's answer stuns her. She could have sworn that Takakura told her that the yard was already finished yesterday. Now he is telling her that it's finished today. He is not the type to play practical jokes, so Lillith begins to feel that he might be going senile.

After a moment, Takakura smirks believing that he may have understood why Lillith would ask him something so odd. He walks up to her, and places his hand on her shoulder saying, **"I get it now. Rock put you up to this, right? After all, if the yard was completed yesterday, there would be chickens in the yard today."** Lillith shakes her head no, but he is not convinced. **"I know that Rock feels that I should retire, but I'm alright. I still have plenty of years left in me, so you don't have to worry. Okay?"**

**"But. . . But. . ."** Before allowing her to speak, Takakura turns around, and returns to his home which is in the farm. Lillith just stands there staring at him. She knows for certain that he finished yesterday, but he may just be acting odd. She then takes a deep breath, and heads to the chicken yard for a second inspection.

At the chicken yard, she doesn't notice any changes at all. She thought that maybe he painted the fence, or cleaned out some crab grass. But there is absolutely no changes at all. She places a hand on her hip, and she scratches her head with the other in utter confusion. Afterwards, she nods, and decides to talk to Takakura later about his actions. Now she needs to move all the chickens outside.

She walks over to the chicken coop, and opens the door to begin moving the hens. However, as soon as she opens the door, she sees that none of the chickens are in the coop. She gasps and takes a quick look around, but sees nothing. The food from yesterday is completely gone, so she thinks that they must have left the coop recently. She knows that she closed the door yesterday, so she has no idea how they got out. Rather than asking questions, she begins walking around the farm calling out the names of the hens hoping they will return if they hear her voice.

As this is happening, Rock walks out of the house taking in some fresh Summer air. After taking a deep breath, he hears Lillith's voice across the pasture calling out the names of her chickens. Curious to know what's going on, he follows her. He creeps up behind her, and says,** "Lillie, is everything okay?"**

She jumps in shock after hearing Rock's voice so suddenly. She then turns to face him saying, **"Oh Rock, you startled me."** Rock nods waiting for an answer to his question. Lillith then says, **"It's the chickens! They are not in the coop! I don't know how they escaped, but they got out on their own!"**

**"Calm down. It's going to be okay. Do you need help looking for them?"** Lillith nods, and then he joins her in the search for the missing hens.

They both check near and inside every building in the farm looking hard for the chickens. However, no matter how hard they look, they cannot find any trace of them. They cannot find any evidence that the chickens had even left the coop, not even tracks left behind. After an hour, Lillith starts to worry that they may have left the farm. So she starts to walks out the farm to ask the locals if they have seen any stray chickens around.

Just before she left, Rock decides to look in the coop himself. **"Lillie! Come here a second!"** he called gaining her attention.

She walks back over to the coop saying, **"Yes Rock? What's going on?"** Rock points into the open door of the coop. She walks over, and takes a look inside. In the coop, all of the chickens are there pecking at the dirt waiting to be fed. She then hugs rock saying, **"Oh, thank you Rock, you found them! I knew I could trust in you!"**

Rock scratches his head and answers, **"But I didn't find them. They were already here."**

**"What?"** asked Lillith giving Rock a worrisome face. **"They were already here? But that can't be, they were not here an hour ago!"**

**"Well, they are here now."** answered Rock. Lilith then runs into the coop to check for any cracks or openings in case they came back in on their own. But she finds nothing. Rock worries about her, but he smiles and gives her a kiss on the cheek. He then tells her, **"Don't worry about it so much. As long as the chickens are back, that's all that matters at this point."**

Lillith looks at her smiling husband, and starts to feel more relaxed. She nods, believing in the words spoken by him. He kisses her on the cheek again, and returns home to check on Toby. Since the chickens are back in the coop, Lillith begins to move them outside.

She grabs the first hen, and takes it outside into the chicken yard. Watching the hen peck at the dirt looking for worms makes her feel good about herself. After sighing, she goes back to the coop to get the other hens. But as soon as she opens the door, the chickens are gone once again.

She looks around in utter confusion. She feels that they might be hiding somewhere in the coop, which would explain why did she think they were missing earlier. She looks around, but she doesn't find them, she cannot even hear their clucking. Thinking they might have escaped again, she walks outside to look for them. As soon as she does, she hears them clucking.

She looks over to the chicken yard, and sees that they are all now there. She jumps back in panic, she is sure that she only put one chicken out. Now they are all out without any logical explanation. It's not possible for the chickens to escape, and enter the yard on their own. The fence is too tall to jump.

She looks back into the coop, and finds it empty. She stands there trying to make sense out of the odd things that has happened. First, the shed collapses, then rebuilds itself. Now the chickens are vanishing, and reappearing. After a while, she just pretends that those events never happened, so she leaves the coop. But then, she finds something else unusual. Lillith has two ducks that always swim in the pond that she had built in the pasture. Now they have vanished, she knows she saw them earlier while she was caring for the larger animals.

She stood there for a long minute thinking about where they might have gone. But as she was thinking, she hears something unusual coming from the inside of the coop. She can hear some quacking, but the thing that worries her is the abnormal amount of quacking she is hearing. She only owns two ducks, but she is hearing the quacks of over a dozen different ducks coming from inside the coop.

Worried about what she may find inside, she slowly grabs onto the handle, and opens carefully. She takes a look inside which causes her eyes to widen, and her pupils to dilate. Inside the coop, she sees not a dozen ducks, but over a hundred ducks fighting each other over space. Her eye and cheek twitches as she witnesses the illogical event that defies even the laws of physics.

She slowly closes the door, and stands still like a statue. She wants to call for help, but she doesn't know who to call. She doesn't even know where so many foul came from, but all she knows that they are in there now.

**"Is something the matter?"** asked Takakura. His sudden voice shocks her enough to scream. She quickly turns around, and looks at him. She is breathing heavily, and there is a look on her face that gives Takakura the impression that she has seen a ghost. **"What's wrong? Are you feeling well?"**

Lillith wants to say something, but she notices that the quacking has completely ceased. She takes another look into the coop, and sees nothing inside. The unusual flock of ducks has now vanished into thin air. She turns around to look at her pond, and finds the two ducks swimming around like nothing unusual happened.

**"No, everything is okay."** she answered. She had to say something, Takakura was looking at her as if she had lost her mind. She never mentioned that the chickens had vanished earlier, or that the ducks had multiplied earlier in seconds. Neither did she bring up the falling of the shed yesterday.

**"Well, if everything is fine, then I'm worrying for nothing. But I still think you should take it easy kid."** He pats her on the head, then returns to his house. Lillith never found out why did Takakura leave his house in the first place, but she knows that she has more important things to worry about. She takes another look into the coop, but she finds nothing unusual again.

Lillith continues to do her work normally. But as she worked, she keeps looking hard at the coop and shed seeing if anything has changed. He also looks at the chickens and ducks, and they have not changed either. Since nothing else has happened, she goes home after everything is done. Rather than worry Rock about the events of the day, she doesn't say anything about it to him. She only hopes that nothing else odd happens.

The next day, Lillith does her daily morning routine, and goes of to work. She walks calmly to the barn, and opens the door to greet the animals for the day. But after opening the door, the expression of her face changes, and her eyes dilates once again. A moment later, she screams. A scream so loud that even the most distant neighbors from all around the valley wakes up from it. A loud ear piercing scream that lasts more than 20 seconds long. After she no longer has any air in her lungs, she slams the door shut, and presses her back against it like if she is blocking something from coming out.

Rock rushes out of the house after hearing Lillith scream. He finds her pressed against the door breathing heavily, and skin as pale as the milk she drinks. He runs up to her yelling, **"Lillie! Lillie! What's wrong!? Why did you scream!?"**

Hearing her husband gives her a quick feeling of relief. She runs to him, and crashes into his arms yelling, **"Rock! Rock! I was so scared! It's the animals! Something happened to them!"**

**"Something happened? What?"**

**"It was so freaky! Bess the cow was walking on the walls! Laura the other cow was walking on the ceiling! Koni the horse was walking in mid air! Ben the bull was over 10 feet tall! Sean the sheep was only 10 inches tall! and Barbara the goat was lying dead on the floor! What's happening to the farm?!"**

Rock can not believe what he is hearing, but Lillith is very upset about what she saw. So he bravely walks over to the barn, and take a look inside for himself. Lillith walks behind him cringing in fear. She knows that the animals themselves are no threat. But something happened to the animals, and the force that is doing it is what's scaring her. She fears that whatever it is, it has to do with the strange events of the past two days.

Rock grabs the handle of the door, and opens it quickly. Lillith closes her eyes in fear. But she opens them slowly taking a quick peek at what is inside. In the barn, all the animals has returned to normal. All the cows and the horse are on the ground like normal. The bull and sheep are normal size again. And the goat is alive and healthy.

**"I don't see anything wrong with the animals."** said Rock.

**"But, but, but, but! But they were like I said only a moment ago! You have to believe me! It was like aliens were here or something like that!"** screamed Lillith in a serious tone. Rock takes another look at Lillith. By the look on her face, she isn't lying. He knows that she did see something. But he feels that she may be exhausted, and only imagined what she saw.

Rock takes a deep breath, and tells her, **"Lillie, have you ever thought of taking a few days off of work? I think you're pushing yourself too hard."**

Lillith crosses her arms and pouts. **"You think I'm crazy, do you?"**

**"No! I would never think that! But try to remember that working in a ranch is not as easy as it looks. I just think you're tired."** Lillith looks at him with a sad look in her eyes. She knows that Rock may be right, but she doesn't want to stop working just because she thinks she saw something unusual. Rock then kisses her in the lips to make her feel a bit more secure. He then says, **"Lillie, please understand that you are my wife, and I love you. I need you to take some time off because I'm worried about you. I know how important this farm is to you. But please, just for a few days. Okay?"**

Lillith looks at her husband for a while. She then looks down, and answers, **"Okay. I'll take some time off."**

Rock kisses her again, then says, **"I'll talk to Takakura when he gets back from his deliveries. Why don't you just go home, and take a nap. We'll talk about this when you wake up."**

Lillith nods, and returns home. After kissing her son on the forehead, she lies in her bed, and falls asleep quickly. Takakura returns to the farm at noon, and Rock explains to him what happened. Takakura agreed to take over the daily chores until Lillith has shown signs of recovery. But, is what Lillith sees only an illusion? Or is something else happening that only she can notice?

**To be continued.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Part 2**

It has been a few days since Lillith took some time off from farm work. Since then, Takakura has taken over the work around the farm. Lillith has been keeping herself busy so that she doesn't get too bored. She likes to read the newspaper so that she can keep up with the current events. She also plays games with her son Toby and read to him as well. Even though she worries about the farm, she still enjoys the time she spends with her family.

Today, Lillith is sitting alone in the house reading her favorite book in the bedroom. Rock went to see the local merchant to buy some new toys for Toby. He also took Toby along so he can choose what toys he wants. Lillith wanted to go as well, but Rock asked her to stay home and relax.

About an hour after they left her alone, a young man with spiky blond hair and farming clothing enters the house. Oddly, this man is not Rock. Rock does not wear farming clothes, and his hair is smooth and straight falling down sideways. Lillith was too into the book to notice this man come into the house.

As the strange man walks past her, he says, **"Mom, I'm going to get some ice cream. Is that okay?"**

**"Sure, make sure you brush your teeth afterwards son."** answered Lillith without looking at who is she talking to.

The man walks into the kitchen, and shuts the door behind him. Lillith continues to read her book flipping to a new page. It takes her a minute to realize that she was not talking to her four year old son, but an adult version of her son. She throws the book to the side, and runs over to the kitchen to confirm what she thought she saw is true.

She opens the kitchen door, and takes a look inside. She finds her son Toby alone in the kitchen eating a bowl full of ice cream. At first, she felt relieved thinking that she only imagined her son as an adult. But she noticed something else odd. The ice cream is in the freezer, and Toby is far too short to reach it. Nobody else is in the house but Toby and herself, so she just stands there wondering, who served him ice cream?

Rock enters the house seconds later. He was about to call for Lillith to see if everything was okay, but he finds her standing in front of the open kitchen door looking like she is seeing something unusual. Curious to know what she is staring at, he walks over to her and looks into the kitchen. All he could see is Toby eating some ice cream, nothing unusual.

He looks at her, but notices that she has yet to notice him standing next to him. So he asks, **"Lillie, is everything okay? Do you see something in the kitchen?"**

As she turns to face her husband, she says, **"No, not really, I just-"** Her eyes widened as soon as she saw Rock's face. Bleach white hair, face full of wrinkles, pruney old hands. She does not see Rock, but an old man in Rock's clothing. She quickly shuts her eyes, and screams uncontrollably to the top of her lungs in fear.

As Lillith is shouting frantically, Rock grabs her shoulders yelling, **"Lillie, what's wrong!? It's me! Your husband, Rock!! Just calm down!!"**

She stops screaming and opens her eyes slowly. In the small gaps of her vision, she sees her husband normal again. Blond hair, smooth skin, handsome face, she feels relieved that he is back to normal. She embraces him tightly wanting a feeling of comfort and protection.

She looks over at her son, and sees that her screaming has upset him. He spilled his ice scream, and is now crying on the table. Feeling sorry for scaring him, she runs over to Toby, and hugs him apologizing for her odd behavior.

But Rock needs to know what just happened. She was doing fine for a few days, he was even going to start allowing her to continue with the farm work again. But now he is unsure if he should. So he walks up to her and asks, **"Lillie, what happened? Are you okay?"** Lillith continues to hold her son patting his head until he stops crying. Rock takes a deep breath and continues, **"Lillie, you have to tell me what's bothering you. I can't help you if you're going to keep things like this a secret from me. If you saw something, just tell me."**

Lillith sighs, she knows that telling him the truth will only make him think that she is going crazy. But she also knows that what she is seeing is not her imagination. It's too real to be an illusion. Even if her eyes are lying to her, the fact that Toby got ice cream by himself is something she could not explain.

So she begins her story, **"When Toby entered the house by himself, I could have sworn he was a full grown man. I didn't see him, but he had a grown man's voice and he spoke to me like a grown man. But when I went to check on him, he was a child again. Then you came in looking like a 50 year old man. I know it sounds like I'm having strange visions, but I know that-"**

**"Lillie, okay you can stop now."** interrupted Rock. He pats her on the head and says,** "Maybe we should go visit Doctor Hardy. I'm sure he can help you."**

Lillith looks back at Rock with an upset look on her face. **"You think I'm crazy, don't you?"** she asked.

Rock shakes his head no and says, **"No! I would never think that of you! But I think that you should see him just in case."** Lillith looks away. Rock can already see that she doesn't want to go to the doctor. She has always been stubborn, and Doctor Hardy is the one person in Forget-Me-Not Valley she does not like to visit.

**"Lillie, please. If you don't want to do it for me, do it for Toby."** After hearing that, she looks down at her son who is resting on her chest.

He had already stopped crying, but he is still upset by his mother's screaming. After patting his hair, and kissing him on the head, she says, **"Okay, I'll go see the doctor."**

Rock is relieved to hear that she has agreed to go see a doctor. The reason why Lillith is never happy to see the doctor is mainly because she is freaked out by the way he looks. Like many doctors, he has a lab coat, and a degree in medical sciences. But unlike most doctors, Doctor Hardy does not like to wear pants. He walks around the valley and his clinic in his boxer shorts. He also has a face the resembles a vicious pitbull. But what make her feel very uncomfortable is his left eye. His right eye is normal, but his left eye is cybernetic, like something ripped out of a science fiction movie. Now many people in the valley know what happened to his left eye, or why does he walk around in his boxers. All everyone does know is that he is a very talented doctor. And despite his appearance, he is very kind and reliable.

Even though the doctor makes her feel uneasy, she still promised Rock that she will see him. Rock and Toby also went along to see if everything is going to be fine. At the clinic, Lillith tells the doctor everything she saw starting with the collapsing of the shed, to seeing Rock as an old man. Hardy then runs a bunch of tests on Lillith to see what may be causing her to see the things she saw earlier. He starts with simple tests, taking her temperature for signs of a fever. Then he asks about her diet and things she may have eaten in the wild. Seeing that nothing is wrong, he checks her blood, and other more complex tests.

As Hardy is checking the results, Lillith, Rock, and Toby wait in the clinic for his diagnosis. After about 10 minutes of waiting, Doctor Hardy closes his folder and says, **"Well, the good news is that there is nothing physically wrong with Lillith. In fact, she is the perfect example of health in my own opinion."**

Lillith sighs in relief. But Rock is not buying it just yet. So he asks, **"Well, if she's fine, then what do you think is causing her to see these weird things?"** Hearing Rock say those words does not make her feel comfortable about herself. The more she thinks about it, the more she feels that he husband thinks she's going insane.

Doctor hardy clears his throat before saying, **"I had a little chat with Lillith a little while ago. I believe her strange visions has something to do with her late father."**

**"My father?"** asked Lillith.

**"It's not common, but since you and your father were very close, the stress from losing him may cause you to have illusionary dreams in your awake state. Working in the farm where your father passed away may intensify the stress you feel subconsciously. Things like this may happen when people work hard to attempt to forget their grief or sadness. Eventually, it can catch up to you causing you to have emotional problems."**

Lillith thinks about the doctor's advice for a moment. She has been working very hard the last couple of years, and has missed several chances to visit her father's grave, or think about him as often as she should. Thinking about it long enough draws her to the possible conclusion that Hardy may be correct about her condition.

Rock stares at her for a moment before asking, **"Lillie, are you okay? What are you thinking about?"**

Lillith then stands up full of confidence. She thinks that she might have found the cause of her strange illusions. She then looks at Rock and Toby saying, **"I think he's right. I have been worrying too much about work, and not enough about my personal feelings. Maybe I'll visit my father's grave later, and talk to him for a while."**

Rock smiles at Lillith feeling that she is already on the road to recovery. She smiles back at him, and starts to walk out of the clinic saying, **"See, I think I feel better already!"**

But as soon as she opens the door, she begins to see something unusual again. Outside the clinic, she sees a snowstorm covering the valley in white snow. She spends a moment staring at it before shutting the door slowly. What is bothering her the most is the fact that they are in the middle of Summer. There is no possible way that there could be a snowstorm in this time of the year.

It takes a moment before Rock and Doctor Hardy notices Lillith standing in front of th closed door standing still like a statue. **"Is everything okay?"** asked Hardy.

Lillith looks back at then and said, **"Nothing. I just. . ." **Before saying anything else, she opens the door once again to see if she really did see a snowstorm. But as she looks outside, she doesn't see any snow outside, not even a sign that a snowstorm has even passed. No leftover snow, no moisture, not even a single cloud in the sky. Just the warm Summer sun shining on her face. As she looks outside, she says,** "Nothing, everything is just fine. Please don't worry."**

Her actions make him feel awkward, but Doctor Hardy allows it to pass. He folds his hands neatly as he says, **"I recommend you take a few more days off of work. That way you can clear your head, and recover quickly."** Lillith looks back, and nods at the doctor.

On the way back home, Lillith remains lost in thought about what she saw earlier. Not only did the blizzard look real, but it felt real as well. The cold air that touched her face, the strong winds that passed through the door. The more she thinks about it, the more real it seemed. But at the same time, she is walking outside, and not even a single sign of a snowstorm.

Rock is carrying their son on the way home. As they walk, he notices that Lillith's mind is occupied by something. He even tries to wave his hand in front of her face, but gets no reaction. He really wants to know what's on her mind, so he takes a deep breath and asks, **"Hey Lillie, what are you thinking about. Something on your mind?"**

She looks back at Rock for a second. She then looks ahead and says, **"Nothing, I was just thinking, that's all. There's nothing to worry about."**

Rock sighs. He knows that getting her to spill the beans will be too hard for him to handle. But as he looks at her, he finds something unusual in her hair. He points at it and says, **"Hey Lillie, what's that in your hair?"**

She stops after hearing that she hears that something is in her hair. She grabs it, but feels a chill down her spine after feeling how cold it is. She brings it in front of her face, and opens her palm to find a puff of snow in her hands. Rock takes a look at it and says, **"Is that snow in your hand?"**

Lillith gasps and yells, **"Oh my god, it's not an illusion!!"**

**"Illusion? What are you talking about?"** asked Rock.

She then turns to her husband and explains, **"Rock, listen to me really carefully! When we were at the clinic, I opened the door twice to leave. Once when I thought that I was just imagining everything. And a second time after that. I know this sounds odd, but the first time I opened the door, there was a snowstorm passing through the valley!!"**

**"A snowstorm?"** asked Rock. **"But there couldn't have been a snowstorm. It's Summer, and it never snows in Summer, let alone a snowstorm."**

**"Dammit I know it's Summer! But I saw it, and felt it too!"** She brought the pile of half melted snow to Rock's face and continues, **"Look at this, where do you think this came from!? If a snowstorm never passed, how did this snow get in my hair, huh!? Can you explain that!?"**

Rock scratches his head for a moment. He is in a lost for words for a few minutes. But then he had an idea. **"Well, Toby was eating ice cream earlier today right? Well, since he cannot reach for the ice cream, maybe you got it for him, and some of the frost from the freezer got stuck in your hair. That seems more logical than a snowstorm."**

Lillith is getting upset at Rock. Even though she understands that a story like a snowstorm is ridiculous, the fact that she thinks that Rock feels that she lost her mind is making her feel angry. So she yells, **"Come on! I did not serve Toby that ice cream. I was in my room reading a book when he came into the house as a grown adult. Besides, if it was from the freezer, it would have melted a long time ago, and-"** She suddenly cuts herself off. She then takes a look at the puddle of water in her hands and realizes that something is odd with the snow. Regardless on whether it came from a snowstorm, or a freezer, the Summer heat would have melted it long before Rock had a chance to notice it.

**"I get it now."** said Lillith to herself. Rock is confused at what she is saying, but he stands by waiting to hear what else she has to say. **"I'm not seeing things. And it's not the farm that is acting up. It's the valley, something is wrong with the whole valley! It only started in the farm."**

**"What are you saying Lillie? You're starting to scare me."**

**"Rock, you don't get it, do you? Something is happening to the valley! . . . And I'm the only one who can notice it! At first, I thought it was just the farm. But now I'm seeing things happening to the valley. Strange things I can't explain. I don't know what it is, maybe it's a ghost or a spirit. Maybe it's telling me something that I can't understand. All I do know is that. . . Only I can see it."**

At this point, Rock wants to take her back to the clinic for a second evaluation. But knowing Lillith, she is not going to want to go back there. He feels lost and confused. He wants to help her, but he has no idea how. The only idea he can come up with is to just take her home, and hopefully she'll recover on her own.

So Rock takes her hand and says, **"Lillie, are you hungry? How about we stop by the inn, and have some of mom's cooking. I think that will make you feel better."**

She looks at Rock's gentle smile and nods. They then go to the inn to have one of Ruby's famous lasagna. Toby had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. But as they eat, Lillith had an unshakable feeling that something is unusual. She can't see anything strange, but she can feel it. It has a lot to do with how everyone is acting. She can almost predict who was going to enter the inn at a specific order, and where were they going to sit. Rock notices her looking around the inn at the other guests, but he ignores it. Last thing he wants to do is upset her.

After dinner, they all go back home to spend some family time together. Mostly playing with Toby and his new ball that Rock bought for him earlier. But as they played, Lillith has an unshakable feeling that she has seen that ball before. The pattern is quite unique with six stripes of many different colors, and a star in both ends. She knows that she never seen it before, but it's a feeling that she cannot let go.

That night, Rock tucks Toby to bed. Lillith and Rock also climb into bed to be ready for the next day. Rock can only hope that his wife will feel better tomorrow. But as Rock sleeps, Lillith stays awake staring at the ceiling. She doesn't see anything wrong with it, but she cannot go to sleep knowing that something odd is happening. What if there is a spirit haunting the valley? Would it harm her family or her friends? Why did she keep getting these odd feelings from people and objects? Is it all in her head, or is it all real?

Seeing that she cannot sleep anytime soon, she climbs out of bed and changes into her farming clothes once again. She wants to know what is happening, or else she cannot sit still. After kissing her son on the cheek, she takes a walk outside. She takes a walk around the pasture looking for odd signs like spiritual anomalies or demonic activities. But she finds nothing as she walks around.

Before she gives up the search in the farm, she stops in front of the shed. It's still standing strong, but still unused. It has always been boarded up even before Lillith inherited the farm from her father. Who boarded it up? Was it her father, or the owner before him? Why was it boarded up? Is there something inside?

She grabs the handle, and tries to open it. But it's boarded up pretty tightly, she cannot get in unless she breaks down the door. Rather than dealing with it, she leaves it alone and walks away. Just then, she sees Takakura walking around. It's unusual for Takakura to be walking around at this hour, especially since he needs to wake up so early to make his daily deliveries.

She stands there staring but saying nothing to him, just watching not knowing if he is going to do something odd. As soon as he gets close to her, he says, "Oh, Lillith. Nice night, eh?" She nods, but doesn't say anything. He then points at the chicken yard and continues,"**Hey, I just finished that chicken yard like you asked. It's too late to take the chickens out now, so try early in the morning."**

Lillith smiles at him. She knows that this is the third time that he has mentioned that he finished the chicken yard. At this point, she can only imagine why he's repeating the same thing over and over. Is he growing senile? Is he possessed by a spirit or a demon? Or maybe he is not really there, and she is only imagining him standing in front of her. Rather than jump into conclusions, she just says, **"Thanks for your help Takakura. I'm sure you did a great job."**

And so she walks past him and continues to wander around the farm. Not too long afterwards, she found herself outside the farm walking around aimlessly around the valley. She sees nothing directly unusual, but like she felt before, she can feel something utterly strange about the other villagers. Lillith can almost predict where they were going, and what they were going to say to one another before they do anything. She doesn't say anything to anyone, even to those who try to say hello to her. She just continues to walk around aimlessly around the village.

Early that morning, Rock wakes up to the early morning sun. He stretches his arms and yawns. But it doesn't take long before he notices that Lillith is not in the bed with him. Since she doesn't have to work, the alarm clock doesn't wake her up before him. He gets out of bed, and starts looking for her around the house. but she isn't in the kitchen, in the washroom, or the bathroom, or anywhere in the house.

Worried for her, he gets dressed without waking Toby up, and walks out looking for her around the farm. He calls her name several times, but he gets no answer. It takes him about ten minutes before he notices her sitting at the entrance of the farm looking out into the distance. It's almost like she's looking at something, but there is nothing to see but the trees and the beach.

He runs to her to see if she's okay yelling, **"Lillie! What are you doing there!? Why didn't you answer when I called you?"**

As soon as Rock is in hearing range, she pats on the dirt road next to her and says, **"Rock. . . Sit down please."**

At first, he is unsure on how to respond. But instead of doing or saying anything that may upset her, he just did what she wants and sat down. He sits there for a few minutes wondering why did she ask him to sit next to her. But all she does is continue to stare out to the distance and remains quiet.

He gets tired of waiting and says, **"Lillie, what is the meaning of this? How long were you-"**

She shushes him and then says, **"Rock, I bet you I can tell you what's going to happen next. I feel that Muffy is going to go to her morning stroll, and stop on the bridge to stare at the river. . . Gustafa is going to walk out of his yurt and play a song. . . And Grant is going to run out of his house complaining that he is late, and bumps into Muffy almost knocking her into the river."**

Rock looks at her awkwardly, but he looks over at the valley to see if what she says is going to happen. After a moment, the blond girl named Muffy walks out of the bar, and heads over to the bridge where she stares at the river flowing below her. Rock finds nothing strange because she does this every morning. Then Gustafa, the village hippie, walks out of his yurt with his banjo and starts to play a song. Even though he doesn't do this everyday, he does do it twice a week. He feels that it must be a coincidence. But he stares at Grant's home that stands next to their farm, and sees nobody coming out.

Rock sighs and says, **"Lillie, please get a hold of yourself. You know that these people always do the same thing all the time. There is nothing unusual about what these people are doing."**

**"Wait for it. . ."** said Lillith.

Rock takes another deep breath and says, **"Look, I know for a fact that Grant is not going to come out running out of his home. He's been living here for years, and not once has he been late for work. After all, he did give you his alarm clock, so-"**

Just then, Grant runs out of his house slamming on the door yelling, **"Oh my god! I'm so late! I'm going to ruin my chances for a promotion at this rate."** As he is running past the farm entrance, he is trying his hardest to put on his vest over his business suit while eating a piece of toast.

Rock is amazed that he is actually late like Lillith said he would. But what amazes him the most is that as he is running across the bridge, he bumps into Muffy almost knocking her into the river. A loud, **"Watch it you jerk!!"** came out of Muffy's lips after she regained her balance. Grant was in too much of a hurry to apologize to her.

**"Wow, that's amazing."** said Rock. **"How did you do that, I would have never guessed in a million years that Grant would ever be late to work."**

Lillith shakes her head no as she says, **"This is not the first time he's done this. He has been late many times before, and almost knocking her into the river while Gustafa is playing music. All this has happened so many times before."** said Lillith. Rock is confused at what she is saying. **"I think. . . That they all do this every year, like clockwork. Nobody notices it, not even me. . . Until now. Every year, everybody does the same thing over and over and over without end. Not even they notice that they are doing it. It's almost like they are possessed, forced into repeating the same thing without worry or care."**

**"Lillith, you are not making any sense!"**

**"Rock? Tell me. . . How long have we been married?"** asked Lillith.

Rock takes a moment to think before answering, **"Toby is four years old now. We got married about a year before he was born. So we've been married about 5 years already."**

Hearing that answer doesn't make her feel any better. She just looks away and shakes her head no. She then continues, **"For some odd reason, it feels like if we've been married longer than that. . . Ten years? Twenty years? Thirty years? . . . Maybe even forty or fifty years! I don't know why, but I feel that all of this strange stuff that has been happening didn't start recently. It's scary once you think about it, I don't know what's real anymore."**

Rock quickly embraces her, and dead locks his lips with hers. Strangely, some of the fear that she feels start to dissolve away. The warm lips of her husband feels too real to be an illusion. The feeling that he is there makes her feel calm and secure.

Rock continues to kiss her for a couple of minutes before letting go. He then gently strokes her cheeks while saying, **"Lillie, please don't think about it so much. Just stop already, you're scaring me."**

**"But. . ."**

Rock sighs and continues, **"Look at us. We are still a young couple, there is no way that we could be married for more than five years. Not to mention that Toby is still only four years old. And don't you feel my hands on your skin? Isn't this real enough for you to believe?"**

Lillith stares at her husband's face for a moment. He is the same person she has been married to for a while, but something about his has changed. Usually he is goofy and playful. Now he is awfully romantic and serious, even for him. It feels to her that she is talking to a completely different person. But even if he is acting a bit different, she can still feel that this is the Rock she loves and married.

She places her hand on Rock's hand which is still resting on her cheek. A tear rolls down her other cheek as she says, **"Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm thinking about it too much. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you worry."**

Rock smiles at her, and pecks her on her lips again. He then stands up saying, **"Come on, lets get home. I'm sure that Toby is going to want some breakfast soon."**

She then nods and says, **"Why don't you go on ahead. I need to talk to Takakura for a moment before I go home."**

Rock nods back, and walks home by himself. As soon as she is sure that he is inside the house, she stands up and begins to walk towards the barn. She lied about talking to Takakura, especially since she knows that he is out making his deliveries to town.

As she passes by the barn, Takakura walks out of the Barn. Lillith doesn't bother to ask why is he still in the farm, especially since she personally saw him leave and not come back yet. She just walks past him without saying a word. As she passes Takakura, he says, **"Lillith, I need to tell you that I just finished the chicken-"**

**"Shut it Takakura!! I heard you the first time!"** yelled Lillith in a serious tone. She knows very well that Takakura was going to tell her that he just finished the chicken yard a fourth time, but she has too much on her mind to listen to it. Takakura just scratches his head, and wonders what is bothering her. But rather than asking questions he'll regret later, he just walks home.

She walks into the tool shed located on the side of the barn. Inside the shed, she grabs the ax that she wanted to use earlier to chop up the shed that came down days earlier. Now she has another reason to use it. She carries the ax on her shoulder with a scary stressful look on her face towards the unused shed.

Ever since the shed came down, and mysteriously rebuilt itself in a matter of minutes, she has been having odd visions and noticed strange things no one else can. The only answer she can come up with is that the shed has something to do with them. Something inside has to be bothering her, or the village. She doesn't know if there is a spirit or other unknown paranormal being inside the shed. But she knows one thing, she wants to know what's inside once and for all.

She raises the ax in the air, and screams to the top of her lungs as she drops the blade against the door splitting it in half. She takes a few deep breaths before looking inside. What she found inside the shed completely terrified her.

Rock runs out of the house soon after hearing Lillith's scream. He yells her name as he runs around randomly looking for her. It doesn't take him long to notice her standing in front of the open shed as pale and stiff as a marble statue. Curious to know what is happening, he runs over to her side.

**"Lillie! What's going on? Why didn't you answer me when I called you?"** asked Rock.

Lillith remains quiet for a moment still shocked by the shed. She then points inside saying, **"Hey Rock, take a look at that. I didn't know we had so much room inside this shed."**

The tone of voice she spoke were that of a joke, but the look on her face appears like she had lost her mind. But rather than provoking her, he looks into the shed where she is pointing into. What he sees frightens him too. From the outside of the shed, they can see that it only covers about 15 square feet of land. But from the inside, they can see miles and miles of pure white empty space.

There is absolutely no top or bottom to the shed. They can look up, and see miles into the air without seeing into the sky. Rock throws a rock inside, and it falls and disappears into the vast deep white empty space below. Not even a sound proving that the inside of the shed is a bottomless pit. No matter which direction they look, the distance goes on forever. It's almost like the shed is some sort of door to another world.

**To be continued.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3**

The next day, Doctor Hardy arrives at the farm to try to help Lillith. She is now trembling on her bed hugging her knees breathing erratically after seeing the paranormal world inside her shed. However, there isn't much that he can do for her. She is so lost in thought about the shed, that words spoken from the doctor cannot reach her.

Rock does not mention to the doctor about the strange thing inside the shed. The last thing he wants to do is cause a panic around the valley. And if people did learn about it, the possibilities of what may happen to them or the farm is immeasurable. They may be forced to abandon the farm, and the farm could become destroyed. The farm is too important to Lillith for Rock to allow anything to happen to it.

Rather than say anything, he boards up the shed again and pretends that he didn't see anything. But that is easier said than done for Lillith's case. After seeing what is inside that shed, she is now in the borderline of breaking down emotionally.

After several hours, Doctor Hardy concludes that there is no way he can help her. No matter what he says, no matter what he does, she does not respond to anything. The only thing that he recommends Rock to do is to try his best to calm her down, and allow her to get more rest. Rock knows that this will not help her, especially after what she has seen. But he still smiles anyway and thanks him for his help.

After the doctor leaves, Rock turns to Lillith who is still trembling in fear on her bed. It is now just them two. Toby is with Rock's mother at the Inn, the last thing he wants is for their son to watch Lillith in her state. As he watches her sit there still hugging her knees, he wonders what he can do for her. Luckily, Rock knows that he is the only person she would listen and respond to at this point.

Even though he has no idea what to do or say, he still needs to try to help her. The first thing he does is sit next to her, and wraps his arm around her. This at least calms her down a bit. She trembles a bit less as she feels the comfort of her husband, but she is still in a pretty bad state. He then kisses her on the forehead which calms her breathing.

After about an hour of showing affection to his wife, Lillith is now calm enough to speak to. Rock knows that he needs to say something at this point, but he is at a lost for words. How should he start off? He knows that hesitating will not help Lillith at all, so he starts off saying the most simplest and most effective thing.

**"Hey Lillie. I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I guess those thing you have seen must have been real."** he said to her. But even though he said it, he only did so just to comfort her. But whether it was serious or not, it still made her feel better.

She looks up and rock with a terrified look on her face. It almost hurts Rock to see her in this state. **"Rock. . . What was that?"** she asks. **"What is in that shed? I know you saw it too. Is it dangerous? Will something come out and hurt me, or you, or our son? Please, I have to know what that is. . ."**

**"Hey, just don't worry about it."** said Rock as he strokes her smooth brunette hair. **"I's okay, it's over now. I boarded up the shed, so nothing is going to come out and hurt us. Nobody has to know about that shed. Just. . . Pretend that it doesn't exist."**

**"Pretend that it doesn't exist!?"** yelled Lillith. Rock's carefree attitude towards that situation has made her upset. Even though carefree has always been a part of his personality, but she expected him to be a little bit more upset about seeing something that strange in the shed. She expecting him to be a lot more worried, even too scared to live in the farm anymore. But he is blowing it off like if it's nothing serious to worry about.

Lillith is now standing and pacing about. Even though Rock feels glad that she is no longer on the brink of breaking down emotionally, watching his wife this upset only worries him in a different way. She only paces around the room for a brief moment before she stops and looks at Rock with a mean glare. She then yells, **"How can you be so calm about what you saw in that shed!! This isn't a game, or something we can just board up and keep as a cute pet! Whatever it is, I don't want it in my farm, or in the valley for that matter!!"**

**"Well, what do you want to do about it!?"** argued Rock. **"What can you do? We can't just go up to it and ask it nicely to leave! Whatever it is, it's probably been there forever, and there is nothing you can do about it! Let's just continue to live our lives like nothing strange has happened, and be happy!"**

**"NO!!"** screamed Lillith to the top of her lungs. At this point, Rock feels that he may have stepped over the line. **"Even if we do just _'ignore'_ it, what will that change?! Will the strange things just _'go away'_?! Will I stop seeing strange things that are driving me crazy?! Will that guarantee that our son will be safe?! Will everyone in the valley stop acting like mindless robots, and start acting like human beings once again?! Tell me!!"**

Rock is speechless. He has no idea how to answer her. He knows that she didn't lose her mind. In fact, this is more or less normal for her when she becomes angry. She becomes into a vicious monster that can only be tamed with time. Yelling, screaming, sometimes throwing a swear if she's over the limit.

Even though Lillith is acting like her normal self, she notices that Rock is not. Lately within the past couple of days, Rock has been acting rather serious. Rock is usually a goofy and carefree kind of guy. And he cares about his son too much that he would never allow anything to happen to him. Allowing such a strange thing to stay in the farm without knowing if it's a danger to Toby was a bit too off character for Rock in Lillith opinion.

At this point, she doesn't want to trust what she is seeing, hearing, or feeling anymore. How can she be sure if the person standing before her is the real thing? What if she's having another illusion. Or worse, what if this isn't an illusion, and the person standing in front of her is a fake? All these questions are running through Lillith's mind, and it's driving her mad.

**"Lillie, what are you thinking about?"** asked Rock in a worried tone. This is the first time that he has seen that look on her face. The look of a person suspicious about the person they are looking at. She's staring at him unsure if she could trust him. She walks up to him, and takes a closer look at him, which only makes him feel more worried.

As she stares at him, she sees that he looks exactly like her husband. Nothing unusual about his appearance, but she is not convinced. He may be an identical copy, or maybe something has possessed him. Seeing that all the villagers acting like they do, there is little doubt in her mind that someone or something is probably inside of him. Controlling him, and hiding something.

She wants to be sure, she needs some sort of proof that the person standing if front of her is the real thing. Is this the real Rock she married and loves, or is this a fake that came out of that shed? The way she wants to test him is to ask him a series of questions, mostly about their life. Lillith knows that if he is the real thing, then he would have no problems answering her.

She starts off with simple questions, and asks, **"Rock, tell me. . . What day is our wedding anniversary?"**

Rock stands up and says in a nervous tone, **"Why are you asking me that so suddenly?"**

**"SHUT IT! I didn't ask for a question, I want an answer! Now answer the question dammit!!"**

Rock is pinned against a wall. He is afraid of what may happen if he answers a question wrong. But he wants her to calm down, so he takes a deep breath and answers as calmly as possible, **"We got married on New Years day."**

Lillith nods, and continues with the interrogation, **"Okay, when is Toby's birthday?"**

**"Third day of Fall."** he answered.

**"What are my favorite things in the world?"**

**"The farm, your family, and cheesecake."**

Lillith stops for a moment. So far, he has answered the questions correctly, but she is still not fully convinced. There is something odd that she can see behind the answers. So she boldly asks, **"So. . . What was my most embarrassing moment?"**

**"You were in the hot springs when you were 12 years old in a school trip. You got overheated and passed out in the hot springs. The guy you had a crush on ran to your rescue, and he ended up seeing you completely naked."**

Lillith became furious. She runs to him, and pushes him down on the bed and demands, **"How do you know that!! Nobody but me knows that happened! Not even my own dad knew that ever happened! Are you reading my mind?! You better start talking, or else things are going to get ugly!"**

**"Wait, Lillie stop!!"** yelled Rock trying to shield himself from getting beaten to a pulp. Lillith is strong enough to do so, and she is more than capable enough to do it. **"I'm sorry! I read your diary, that's how I know that!"**

**"You did what!?"**

**"I wanted to know everything about you, even those things that happened when you were younger. I know you told me not to read them, but I did anyway. I'm sorry."**

Lillith calms herself. She is still angry about him reading her diaries that has only the most personal and deepest thoughts she would be too embarrassed to share with other people. But now, he feels that it'll be too difficult to trick him into answering a question he should or should not know. But then it hit her, Rock knows everything that she knows. Now she needs to test on what Rock should know that Lillith doesn't know.

As Lillith was thinking of a good question, Rock stands up again feeling that he is safe from an attack. He sighs in relief, but he is unaware that he is far from safe yet. Lillith then quickly turns to him unexpectedly and asks, **"So Rock tell me, how old is your mother?"**

**"My mother?"** asked Rock almost trembling. He is unsure how to answer that question, so he responds, **"Why do you want to know my mother's age all of the sudden? What does that have to do with anything?"**

**"Wrong answer!"** yelled Lillith. **"Next question. . . You told me that you were not born in forget-Me-Not Valley. When you were younger, your parent's built that Inn to get away from the city. So where were you born? Tell me the name of your home town!"**

**"I. . . I don't know."** answered Rock.

**"Really? Kind of strange that you don't know that about yourself, but you know me soooooo well. Okay, one more question, who did you have your first kiss with?"**

**"You of course."** answered Rock in a flustered tone.

Lillith grew angry again and screamed, **"NO!! THAT'S A LIE!! You told me that you used to have a girlfriend before you met me! If that's true, then tell me that girl's name!!"**

**"I'm sorry, I don't remember. . . It was such a long time ago and. . ."**

Lillith shuts her eyes tightly and yells, **"You're lying!! There is no way that you could be my husband! Where is my real husband!? Answer me, WHO ARE YOU?!"**

Those last three words echoed over and over through the air. Lillith just stands there waiting for an answer freaked out by the echoing. They are inside a small house, so there is no reason why she would be hearing echoes. But as she waits, she hears no answer, not even a single breath coming from Rock. She slowly opens her eyes once again, and quickly notices that Rock is gone.

She begins to look around yelling Rock's name, but gets no reply. There is no signs that he ever left the room, he just vanished into thin air. Lillith then searches the house, and finds nobody. She begins to worry, so she runs out of the house to look around. She immediately felt something wrong. The air is silent, too silent. She cannot hear people in the distance, the cicadas buzzing in the trees, the cows mooing in the barn, not even the trees rustling in the wind. The only thing she can hear is her breath getting heavier and heavier. It's like the whole valley went mute on her.

She runs into the barn to check on the animals, but they are all gone. She cannot even see any signs that they were even there to begin with. The fodder bins are empty, and there is no smell of cow dropping in the air. She then runs over to the coop in a panic hurry. Just like the barn, the chicken coop and the chicken yard are empty. The ducks are not in the pond either. Even her crops have gone missing without a trace.

At this point, Lillith is completely frantic. She runs out of the farm trying her best not to cry or shout. The first place she heads to is the Inn to find her son. She slams the door open, and starts shouting names. But the Inn is completely empty, no customers or guests, no Toby, or Rock's parents either. She then runs over to the other buildings of the valley, but she doesn't find anyone at all. The valley is completely empty and quiet, only Lillith remains.

Lillith is now standing in the road in front of the farm. She is terrified at what is happening to the valley. Everyone is missing, including her husband and her son. She drops to her knees out of fear an confusion. Tears quickly filled her face seeing that she can no longer hold her feelings of fear and grief any longer.

She cries for a moment while hugging herself on the ground. She doesn't know what else to do. She has no idea what is happening. As she trembles on the ground she says out loud, **"What is happening to me? What is happening to the valley? Someone please, I don't want to be alone. I'm so scared. . . SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!!"**

**"But you're not alone."** said a voice coming from behind her. She gasps quickly recognizing the voice she heard. It does not belong to Rock, or her son, or anyone she has seen in a long time. She is afraid to turn around to see who is behind her. But her curiosity was too strong for her to resist. She slowly turns around and faces this mysterious person who had just appeared out of nowhere. Who she finds shocks her.

The stranger is a man who is in his mid-thirties. Vaguely spiked short brown hair and brown eyes. He wears a bleach white shirt, and overall pants with gloves and boots like an ordinary male farmer. He stands about 10 feet away from Lillith smiling at her. Lillith is still on the ground almost too shocked to see him standing there. She wonders if what she is seeing is real, or is he just another illusion?

**"It's been a while since we last met, right Lillith."** he said with a smile on his face.

Lillith remains silent for a moment longer before yelling, **"Dad?!"**

Things remained quiet for a while longer. Her father continues to smile at her, while Lillith just kneels there wondering what is going on. Her father is standing before her, but she knows that he died about a year before she married Rock. He then turns around walks into the farm. Lillith stands up and follows him for a while.

He walks around the farm looking around as if he is inspecting it. Lillith continues to follow him wondering what is he doing. After a few minutes, she tells him, **"Dad, I'm glad to see you and everything, but what are you doing here? Was it you who did something to the valley?"**

He continues to walk around aimlessly and says, **"You did a real great job in this place. Everything looks so real. Even I couldn't create something that looks just like the real valley."**

She stops following for a second and yells, **"Please dad, stop ignoring me! What you're saying is not making any sense! Dad, please listen to me, don't you understand what's going on, you died a long time ago!!"**

He stops walking for a moment. At this point, Lillith feels that she may have upset him. She feels that her father is just a ghost that is haunting the valley. Because of the ghost stories she has heard as a child, she doesn't know what may happen.

But her father takes a deep breath and says to her in a calm and deep voice, **"Yes, it's true. I did die a long time ago. But. . ."** He then turns around and continues, **"So did you."**

**"What?"** asked Lillith. What her father just told her confused her. She knows that he died some time ago, but he just said that Lillith died as well.

**"I guess you don't remember. It's okay, it's natural for anyone not to remember."** He then turns away and says,** "Allow me to tell you what happened.  
You see. . . A long time ago, I died and you came to Forget-Me-Not Valley to take over my farm. About a year later, you married Rock, and not too long after that my grandson Toby was born. He grew up to be quite the talented farmer. The work was too hard for you to do alone, but you still worked hard in that farm for about 20 years or so. Sadly one Spring night, you died in your sleep.  
You see, this is not the real Forget-Me-Not Valley. This is a heaven you created that looks like the valley. And the people that lives here are not real either. They are just fragments of your memory. I guess this is your favorite year, because it just repeats itself over and over, and it has been for about 20 years or so. But eventually, your old memories of when you're alive will start to conflict with your current memories, and make you see strange things. Usually older memories from when you were alive suddenly appearing before your eyes. Like the shed crashing down and the blizzard."**

**"You mean I'm not. . ."** said Lillith hardly able to believe what she is hearing.

Her father turns around and smiles as he says to her, **"Lillith my dear sweet dear daughter. Your an angel."**

After hearing those words come from him, a tear fell from Lillith's eye. All the memories that she has forgotten within the last 20 years start to come back to her. She couldn't believe that all that time, she was living as an angel in heaven. The shock from the truth was just too much for her to handle. Before long, she just fell on her knees, and starts to cry.

It breaks his heart to stand there and watch his daughter cry. He knows why she feels sad, after all he felt the same way when he learned that he passed on to the next life. The only thing he could really do for her is hug her, and pat her on the head like he used to when she was only a little girl, and say, **"There, there. Please don't cry my little Lillith. Everything is going to be okay. I promise. You don't have to cry."**

She continues to weep for a while. Even though her father's embrace is comforting, she still feels sad and alone. After she has calmed down a bit, she looks at her father and says, **"But dad, why did I have to die? What about Toby and Rock? Why do I have to be separated from my family? I just want to be with them."**

He smiles and wipes the tears from her eyes. He knows how she feels, he wanted the same exact thing when he learned that he had passed away as well. He knows that the one and only thing that would make her feel better is the one thing she wants to see. So he helps her stand up and says, **"Hey Lillith. Do you want to see your real family again?"**

She looks up at her father, and nods. She wanted to see them so badly to find out what happened to them after she died. After they got up, they walk over to the pond where the ducks once swam. At first, she doesn't see anything in the pond. But her father touched the surface of the water, and an image slowly appears. In the pond, she can see the real Forget-Me-Not Valley, and everyone in it.

The farm itself hasn't changed much at all. But her son Toby who has taken over the farm has aged considerably. He is now about 40 years old, and still looks very healthy. Next to him stands a woman with a brunette double ponytail and a white and blue dress. She can immediately tell that it's Kate, Grant's daughter who lives next to their farm.

Lillith smiles as she says, **"Wow, I guess they got married after all. I do remember that Toby had a crush on that girl, but I never thought that they would end up together. But I guess the farm is doing great without me. I'm so happy that my son took over the farm. But I wonder, what happened to Rock? Did he die too?"**

**"Why don't you go ahead and find out? Just touch the water, and think about who you want to see."** said Lillith's father.

She decides to give it s try. She closes her eyes, and thought about all the wonderful memories that she had with Rock. When she opened her eyes, she can now see the inside of the farm house from the pond. Inside the house, Rock is still alive as a very old man of about 60 years old. His hair is now bleach white, and his skin is as wrinkled as a raisin. His taste in clothing has not changed at all since she last remembers him.

He is sitting on a rocking chair holding a picture of Lillith and himself as a young newlywed couple. She can tell from the look on his face that he misses her very much. The sight of this brings tears to her eyes. She can only wish that she could at least speak to him, and tell him that she is in a good place now.

After a few minutes, another person enters the room, and gives Rock some tea. It's a young woman in her early twenties who looks a lot like Lillith. Same hair color, eyes, and body figure. But unlike Lillith, her hair is not tied up into a ponytail, and she is wearing a blue medium country style dress.

She points at the girl and asks, **"Dad, who is that?"**

He smiles once again and says, **"Her name is Lily, your granddaughter. She was named in your memory. . . Well, at least your nickname anyway."**

Lillith takes a look at her once again, and smiles happily. The thought that everyone remembers her, and even named her granddaughter after herself touches her heart. Now that she knows that everything is okay, there is no need for her to worry anymore.

They continue to watch them for about an hour. As they continued to watch, Lillith noticed that the old shed is no longer in the farm anymore. She then remembers that about 10 years after she took over the farm, the shed fell apart. She used the wood as firewood, but she never had a chance to look inside the shed.

So she asks her father, **"Dad, what was in that old shed anyway?"**

**"Nothing. It was supposed to be a stable for a horse, but it was so poorly built that we never used it." he answered. He then laughs and continues, "I bet you were wondering about that white empty space when you opened that shed earlier. You don't have to worry about that, it happens when you see something you don't remember seeing when you were alive. Since you never seen the inside of that shed, you cannot create an image of what it looks like. It happened to me before too."**

**"I see."** She said. After hearing that, everything started to make a lot of sense. She remembers when Takakura built the Chicken Yard, and how happy she felt seeing the chickens feel happy about being outside feeding on worms. Or how good it felt to have firewood for hot water in the house. She can also remember the day the goat in the farm died from natural causes, and it taught her son to appreciate life, and how short it really is. Even the Blizzard is a happy memory, everyone was cozy by the fire telling stories and jokes. It really was a great time as their family only learn to become closer than ever.

After taking a deep breath, she begins to be curious about her father's heaven. So she turns to him and asks, **"Hey dad, what does your heaven look like?"**

**"If you want to see for yourself, You'll have to close your eyes and wish to be there."** he answered.

It was so simple that Lillith feels skeptical that it would work. But after what has happened so far, she would try anything. So she shuts her eyes, and wishes with all her heart to to to her father's heaven. After opening her eyes, she is amazed at where she found herself.

Everything is as she remembers it, a small apartment in the city with a lot of noise. The same exact apartment she grew up in. She looks outside the window, and saw the streets packed with cars and little children playing games in the sidewalk. The apartment is filled with plants and herbs that her father had planted. She then takes a walk in her bedroom, and finds all of her old toys of when she was a little girl.

She turns to her father and asks, **"Wow, this is your heaven dad?"** He nods. **"But why here? I thought that the farm was your greatest dream? Why not make a heaven that looks like Forget-Me-Not Valley like I did?"**

**"Even though I didn't spend much time at the farm, I enjoyed it very much. But all that time I was there, something was missing. It was your mother, and you. I missed you two very much, that's why I created this heaven."**

**"Daddy, who are you talking to?"** interrupted the voice of a little girl. Lillith turns around and gasps at what she sees. It's a smaller version of herself from when she was only 5 years old. She runs up to her father, and jumps into his arms.

He raises her into the air, and plays with the smaller version of Lillith and says, **"Hi there sweetie! What can daddie do for you today?"**

She giggles and says, **"Daddy, can I have some ice cream, please?"**

**"Sure you can, you can have as much as you like. But keep it a secret from your mother. Promise?"**

The little Lillith cheers happily. Lillith almost cries at the sight, she remembers doing this exact thing when she was 5 years old. Like herself, her father has been reliving this year for many years. The little Lillith notices the bigger version of Lillith and says, **"Daddy, who is this lady?"**

**"She's someone very important to me."** answered her father.

**"Is she more important than me?"** asked the smaller Lillith.

Lillith's father laughs and pats her head saying,** "Don't ask questions you won't understand. Just go to the kitchen, and get some ice cream."**

He puts her back on the ground, and she runs off to the kitchen to get ice cream. After that, Lillith and her father go back to her own heaven. He the looks at his daughter and says, **"You look disappointed. Is anything wrong?"**

**"Not really."** answered Lillith. **"I just had a different image of what heaven looks like. I always thought heaven would be like walking on clouds, and we would all have angel wings and a halo."**

Her father laughs and says, **"All that is just folklore. I guess if we wanted our heaven to look that way, we would make it so. But you see Lillith, I loved that time in the apartment because it was a time that we all were still a family. Me, your mother, and you in that small apartment. I always wanted a farm, even before you were born. But even after I got that farm in the valley, I realized that I should have stayed home. Because no matter how great farming was, the most important thing to me has and will always be is you, my precious little girl Lillith."**

Lillith smiles and says, **"Oh dad, thats so embarrassing."**

**"Well, nobody else is here but us, so who cares?"** he said.

Lillith then runs to her father, and gave him a huge hug. It makes her happy to know that even after death, he always thought about her. Just like she thought about her family after she died.

Before long, something unusual happened. Strangely, a white light in the shape of a door opens up not too far from them. Lillith stares at it wondering what it is, but her father feels drawn into it. Almost like it's calling for him. Soon, he walks towards the white doorway leaving Lillith behind.

Lillith yells, **"Dad wait, what is that? What is going on?"**

He looks back and says, **"God is calling me, I'm going to be reborn. In about 20 years, there is gong to be a farm that needs a farmer. And I have been chosen to take it over."**

**"Dad, will I be able to see you again?"**

He shakes his head no as he answers, **"I'm afraid that when I am born again, I will not have any memories of my past life. Even if we do meet in the future, we will not recognize each other. So I guess this is farewell."**

He turns around, and takes a step towards the light. But then Lillith yells, **"Dad wait!!"** He stops for a moment to listen to what Lillith has to say. He already has an idea what she is going to say, but he wants to hear it anyway. **"Dad. . . Please don't go. I wanted to see you again for a long time, I don't want to say goodbye already. Dad, I miss you. Please stay here with me. I don't want us to be separated again."**

He smiles at her for the last time and says, **"Don't worry, just remember this. Everything is going to be okay, I promise."** He then turns and walks into the white light where he will be reborn into a new life.

Lillith cries as the white door shits behind him. She is not crying because she feels sad, rather she feels happy. She always thought that after her father left to work in the farm in Forget-Me-Not Valley, she will never get to see him again. Just the fact that she got to see him again one last time fills her heart with joy.

As the tears continue to run down her smooth cheeks, she says out loud, **"Dad, thank you for everything. I only hope that when it's my turn to be reborn, I'll be your precious little girl once again. Until then, goodbye. . ."**

**"Who are you talking to?"** said Rock's voice. Lillith turns around, and finds Rock standing in front of the house carrying Toby in his arms. Lillith now knows that they are not really her husband or her son. They are just memories that has taken human shape. Even though these memories can never take the place of the real people that is living on earth, she still wants to enjoy her life in heaven.

So she wipes her tears off her face, and runs up to Rock. She then answers, **"Nobody, I was just talking to myself. Lets go inside, I bet everyone's hungry. I'll try to cook something delicious for everyone to eat."**

And so everyone returns to the house, and continues their lives like if nothing odd has happened. Even though Lillith is with them, she will always be watching over her real family from heaven. Someday, she'll return to earth as a reborn soul and find her father once again. But for now, she wants to live as happily as she can be in heaven.

The end.

**For Ana J. Vicente**

**1968 - 1997**

_"Everything is going to be okay, I promise."_

Credits:

This Fanfic is based off the Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life, Chapter 7: Heaven. Juxapose4ever or Harvestmoon4ever does not assume ownership of copywritten materials or names belonging to Marvelous Interactive, Marucome, or Natume.

This entire Fanfic was Written by Juxapose4ever for fans of Harvest Moon, or other people who just love to read. Thanks for reading.


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